Retirement - what, if anything, are you doing to prepare?

[Earlybird]

I keep thinking I need to pay more attention to this because it is not as far off as it once was!

Would love to hear of what provisions people have made. Also, if you've got a pension or other retirement fund, have you made changes in how it is invested given the recent economic downturn, and if so, to what?

Any general ideas about the age you anticipate retiring?

I keep thinking I haven't done nearly enough, and what I have done is shrinking dramatically due to the market downturn, as the cost of living rises. Help!

I have a company pension with a v generous employers contribution as well as my own. I've been there for 14 years so it should be quite a lot. But it won't be enough. I have also got 2 other occupational pensions from previous jobs. DH has 2 previous pension funds and now has a pathetic self-employed stake holders pension.

It frightens me just how much we would have to pay out each month to have enough to be comfortable on at retirement. We could do it if nobody wanted to eat

janinlondon - thanks for info. I'm in America (moved last year), and citizens can start to claim state payments at 62 but there is a significant reduction in the amount given per month. Current 'optimal' age is 65, but it will have moved up to 67 when I am eligible. Don't think there is any differentiation for men/women.

also, too, Early, you may actually enjoy your job and not want to stop working at 62.

it does happen!

my dad is now 72 and he was eligible to retire long before the age was raised in the US, but he really liked what he was doing, so he only retired 5 years ago.

similarly, my landlord was retired early from the education system (he'd been teaching or working in education since leaving university at 22) at 57, but decided he still had plenty to contribute, so he chose to work for VSO as an instructor of primary-teachers in Africa for a couple of years. he and his wife are really enjoying the experience and he hopes to continue working and contributing after their 2 years are up there.

Very depressing subject - we have f* all in place to be honest. Dependent on loaded parents leaving me something , though I realise that is not a good plan.

Also move to Scotland - much more generous OAP care. Family is scottish so not out of the realms of reasonableness!

We both have a final salary pension (public sector) and once we are no longer paying nursery fees we will concentrate on paying off the mortgage and buying AVCs for DH who has less pension years than I.

I would probably prefer to reduce my working hours in my late 50s I imagine rather than give up work altogether. Many academics just carry on working anyway so if possible, would be good to do it for some money.

well im 51 and have no pension and no insurance contributions and no savings

i do have a house and a house i built in the garden but i also have a big mortgage and no job

so basically i am somewhat stuffed

i think in 2011 they are reviewing the pension age

at the moment employees can ask to stay on at 65 but employers can say no thats it mate

it is likely that from 2011 that the 65 age will be scrapped so people will be able to carry on working i hope so

well if i ever manage to get a job

oh i have no partner either so no income

Does anyone know about the state pension, ie, do you have to have paid NICs for a certain amount of years to qualify?

(I'm thinking about dh who didn't come to the UK until his late 20s)

zippi, how'd the interview go?!

My DH has a final salary pension with an investment bank .

Part of my pension planning involves ensuring I stay married to him!

i was not impressed with myself i was a lightweight really they were nice

it should have been fairly easy but i went into non stop talking and not saying the right things mode

but at least i got asn interview

if i got that job i would be saved

fingers crossed for you then, zippi!

worst case scenario i could try and seduce exh ....

thank you

all i could think about on the way home was the chocolate cheesecake slice in the back of the car from yesterday and the prospect of getting totally ratted tonight

on the subject of the thread there is really nothing i can do to prepare for retirement because i am effectively already there with no provision

How do yuo pay your mortgage then Zippi with no income?

hmm, if hte ex is single . . .

fair game!

Presumably final salary schemes are pegged to inflation?

A major disheartening factor is that I made significant contributions to a private pension when I was a corporate drone but have not added much since becoming a Mum. One would assume that those basic contributions would have appreciated significantly as it has been a number of years. We were all told 'invest X when you're young(ish), and in years it will have doubled/tripled, etc'....well due to volatile market perfomance, a good portion of the gains have been erased and I'm left with an amount not much more than X - which is worth much less in purchasing power....That's one reason why I asked about those who may have reassigned how their pension is invested. Anyone have tips to share?

Both our occupational pensions are final salary and our employeer contributes a lot to our pension as well.

I have no idea what final salary means though

i borrowed 30k from exh on the grounds i completed building work and sold up

i paid of my credit card debts got a bill for £3033 to fix my car this week and have been living off the money

not much left to do the building work housing market has gone pear shaped

my dd1 is paying notional rent to live in the new house

its called a ticking bomb

i have credit cards i amy have to use

final salary schemes are pegged to inflation in the sense that salaries are:

so if I work for 40 years, I get 40 x 80ths of my final salary (ie half!) or 36 80ths if I work for 36 years etc..

So the key is to be earning a good salary when you leave...

It is known as defined benefit pension (I mean final salary) because you know what you will get. A defined contribution pension is where you know what you've put in but don't know - because it is based on investments - what you will get out.

final salary schemes can go up or down too but because they are mostly large private sector schemes they are relatively secure compared to private schemes.

It does still depend a bit on how the stock market does but typically when employers get rid of FS schemes, they close them to new members rather than existing ones. they can reduce payouts to existing members while in the scheme though...

I job-hopped a fair amount as I was head-hunted for bigger/better jobs. It was lucrative at the time, but now will admit to wishing I'd followed the career path of my best pal. She stayed with the same company for over 25 years, and in the early years of her employment signed up for a generous pension plan that was later revised for subsequent hires as it was perceived as 'too generous'. She will be in very good shape when it is time to draw her pension.

I think those of us who job-hopped to take bigger/better jobs probably didn't fully realise that we were never anywhere long enough to accrue a healthy company pension. I'll have bits and pieces from several companies, but won't be nearly as much as my pal who stayed put.

Dh and I are both 35, at the moment we aren't planning towards our retirement as every penny dh earns is needed to pay the bills.

When I am in a position to get my career back on track I am planning to earn a decent salary which will enable us to start saving and start getting the mortgage down etc, I have quite a good business idea which has potential. I hope I am not living in cloud cuckoo land!

We currently live in the outrageously expensive south east and I expect that once we retire we will move to a cheaper area or different country to release equity.

I seem to remember Alvin Hall (or someone) having a rule which went something like - whatever age you star your pension, that is the percentage of salary you need to invest in it (is that right?)

So if you start when you're 20, only 20%; if you start when you're 40, you need to be investing 40%

Or perhaps I have got that wrong...